Suppressed for 38 years by the mendacity of the British Army and its
soldiers, the facts of the bloody massacre of innocent Irish
nationalists in Derry in January, 1972 have been affirmed by a British
tribunal of inquiry and publicly accepted by a British Prime Minister.

It was a genuinely historic day for the people of Derry and an emotional
climax to a campaign which has spanned generations.

Almost four decades after British soldiers shot dead 14 unarmed men and
children on the streets of Derry, the Bloody Sunday families have
finally been vindicated before the eyes of the world in their long
campaign for the truth.

Prime Minister David Cameron officially apologised on Tuesday for the
British Army’s “unjustified and unjustifiable” actions on January 30,
1972.

After the longest inquiry in British legal history, Mark Saville had
confirmed that members of the Parachute Regiment opened fire on dozens
of unarmed civilians without warning, despite them posing no threat to
soldiers.

His report found that some of those killed and injured had been
attempting to flee or go to the assistance of the dying when they were
shot.

One of the dead was killed while crawling away from soldiers, while
another was shot when he was lying mortally wounded on the ground.

The findings bring to an end a 38 year wait for the truth for the
families of the victims after the Widgery report wrongly accused some of
those killed of having guns or bombs.

Saville, most significantly, finds that the soldiers fired first in the
Bogside that day; Widgery had asserted the opposite, using an argument
akin to Denning’s ‘appalling vista’.

Widgery declared that there was no general breakdown in discipline;
Saville says there was “a serious and widespread loss of fire
discipline” among the soldiers of support company.

Widgery had lauded the soldiers for their “steadiness” and declared
that, in his opinion, the accounts they gave of their firing were in
general truthful. Saville accuses some of them of falsifying their
accounts.

However, like Widgery, Saville exonerated General Robert Ford, the then
British commander of land forces, and effectively cleared Brigadier
MacLellan who gave the order for the arrest operation.

As some had predicted over the years, the “fall guy” turned out to be
the commanding officer of 1Para, Colonel Derek Wilford, who is simply
accused of not complying with his orders.

Wilford is retired and living in Belgium and will not be commenting on
the findings of the inquiry, according to reports. The British army is
believed to have placed a gagging order on all its soldiers in relation
to the report.

The Saville Inquiry concluded that:

* The first shots fired on Bloody Sunday injured two civilians and came
from the British Army

* None of the soldiers gave any warning before opening fire and some
lost self-control

* None of them fired in response to attacks or threatened attacks

* Some soldiers later deliberately lied to cover up their actions

* Members of the Official IRA fired shots on the day but “none of this
firing provided any justification for the shooting of civilian
casualties”

* A proposal to shoot ‘ringleaders’ was not put forward as part of an
official plan to deal with the banned march

* WiIford disobeyed an order not to send troops into the Bogside

* All those shot dead or injured were innocent

Tony Doherty, whose father Patrick was one of those killed, said the
Bloody Sunday families had been vindicated and the Parachute Regiment
had been disgraced.

“It can now be proclaimed to the world that the dead and the wounded of
Bloody Sunday, civil rights marchers, one and all,were innocent, one and
all, gunned down on their own streets by soldiers who had been given to
believe that they could kill with perfect impunity,” he told thousands
of supporters outside Derry’s Guildhall.

On Tuesday morning, the families went inside the Guildhall to receive
advance notice of the findings as marchers gathered in the Bogside to
retraced the route of the original civil rights protest, carrying giant
banners with the faces of the victims.

As Cameron prepared to address Westminster on the inquiry’s report,
there were emotional and celebratory scenes in Derry as the families
appeared at the Guildhall windows, giving a ‘thumbs up’ signal.

They then emerged and, one by one, triumphantly declared the findings of
innocence of their loved ones to the delighted crowd.

Mickey McKinney, brother of 27-year-old William McKinney, who was shot
from behind when tending to a wounded man, led the families on to the
stage.

“This is a historic day for Derry. I’d like to thank you all for your
patience, as we have all had patience for 38 years. But today the
waiting has come to an end,” he said.

The crowd erupted with cheers and clapping before Kay Duddy, sister of
17-year-old Jack Duddy - the first person to be shot dead on Bloody
Sunday - called for a minute’s silence to mark the deaths of all those
who lost their lives during the Troubles.

Tony Doherty, brother of 31-year-old Patrick Doherty, who was shot from
behind when trying to crawl to safety in a flat forecourt, said he
welcomed British prime minister David Cameron’s comments that all the
killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable”.

“The victims of Bloody Sunday have been vindicated, and the parachute
regiment has been disgraced. Their medals of honour have to be removed,”
he said.

Mr Doherty said the victims were gunned down in their own streets by
soldiers who were given to believe they could act with impunity.

He said Widgery’s lies had been “laid bare” by the Saville report, in a
reference to the inquiry into the events on Bloody Sunday led by Lord
chief justice Widgery in 1972.

“Bloody Sunday wounded Derry very badly, and we hope today Derry can
begin to bind up the wounds,” he added.

There were tears of relief and joy for those who had struggled to reach
this point, and all those present felt the immense release of the
relatives and their supporters.

Finally, one of the relatives of the victims, Jean Hegarty (sister of
Kevin McElhinney), ripped up the disgraced Widgery report and threw the
torn pages into the air, provoking more huge cheers.